Fade Away
Chapter 3
I woke up with a start. Something felt off. I glanced around my room quickly, my eyes searching for the dim glow of my wall clock. 2:43 a.m. I let out the breath I hadn't realized I was holding and laid back down. Maybe I'd been having a bad dream. Yeah, that had to be it. I focused on trying to remember my dream...
I had been in a room, surrounded on all sides by people. One by one the people left the room until there was only one or two guests left. Then Maika came back into the room. But it wasn't really Maika. His eyes were an odd color, unfocused on the world. That was when I'd woken up.
Okay, so it was a bad dream. It was over now. I could go right back to sleep and it would be as if I'd never dreamt it at all. But I couldn't fall back asleep. It was close to four o'clock when I gav eup trying. I stood up from my bed silently, crossing the hall to Maika's room with ease.
"Maika," I hissed into the dark. Another difference between Maika and me; he loved sleeping in the pitch black whil I needed some sort of light. "Maika!"
He didn't answer, not that I was too surprised. He'd always been a heavy sleeper. I walked toward his bed cautiously, hoping that by some miracle Maika had cleaned his room. I didn't want to stub my toe on his guitar or trip over shoes or anything. I stood over his bed, accident free, and reached out to shake my brother awake.
But my hand met air. I reache again and again until I was patting the entire bed like some crazed old lady who could swear she'd dropped her glasses.
"Maika?" My voice wasn't a whisper anymore. But then I realized this was all just a joke. Maika was probably awake too. he was just hiding somewhere waiting to scare me. "Very funny, Maika. Now can you please stop playing around?"
Silence.
"Maika Maile! This isn't funny! I can't sleep! Now be a good big brother and tell me that it was just a dream and I'll be fine," I said. I spun around, expecting to see Maika sneaking up on me. Nothing.
"Jesus, why is it so hot in here?" I said, distracted for a moment from my brother's absence. Why was his window open? The temperature in the house was always a perfect 68 degrees. Why let in the Florida heat?
Then I was back to wondering where Maika was. Had he gone off to his friends for the night and I just hadn't noticed? No, it couldn't be. We had church in the morning and good-boy Maika wouldn't miss a day of church in favor of playing video games with Christian and Jay. Was he somewhere else in the house then? I didn't hear any sounds but Maika was famous for falling asleep in the den while playing with the acoustic guitar.
I checked the entire house once, twice, three times. Still no Maika. I crossed my arms over my chest. An 18 year old boy shouldn't be that hard to find. I prayed that maybe I'd finally rubbed off on him and he had just snuck out and would be back in an hour or so. Yeah, that could be the real reason. I decided to stick to that. I made my way back to my own room, feeling semi-accomplished. After all these years, I'd finally taught Maika Maile how to break rules.
I had been in a room, surrounded on all sides by people. One by one the people left the room until there was only one or two guests left. Then Maika came back into the room. But it wasn't really Maika. His eyes were an odd color, unfocused on the world. That was when I'd woken up.
Okay, so it was a bad dream. It was over now. I could go right back to sleep and it would be as if I'd never dreamt it at all. But I couldn't fall back asleep. It was close to four o'clock when I gav eup trying. I stood up from my bed silently, crossing the hall to Maika's room with ease.
"Maika," I hissed into the dark. Another difference between Maika and me; he loved sleeping in the pitch black whil I needed some sort of light. "Maika!"
He didn't answer, not that I was too surprised. He'd always been a heavy sleeper. I walked toward his bed cautiously, hoping that by some miracle Maika had cleaned his room. I didn't want to stub my toe on his guitar or trip over shoes or anything. I stood over his bed, accident free, and reached out to shake my brother awake.
But my hand met air. I reache again and again until I was patting the entire bed like some crazed old lady who could swear she'd dropped her glasses.
"Maika?" My voice wasn't a whisper anymore. But then I realized this was all just a joke. Maika was probably awake too. he was just hiding somewhere waiting to scare me. "Very funny, Maika. Now can you please stop playing around?"
Silence.
"Maika Maile! This isn't funny! I can't sleep! Now be a good big brother and tell me that it was just a dream and I'll be fine," I said. I spun around, expecting to see Maika sneaking up on me. Nothing.
"Jesus, why is it so hot in here?" I said, distracted for a moment from my brother's absence. Why was his window open? The temperature in the house was always a perfect 68 degrees. Why let in the Florida heat?
Then I was back to wondering where Maika was. Had he gone off to his friends for the night and I just hadn't noticed? No, it couldn't be. We had church in the morning and good-boy Maika wouldn't miss a day of church in favor of playing video games with Christian and Jay. Was he somewhere else in the house then? I didn't hear any sounds but Maika was famous for falling asleep in the den while playing with the acoustic guitar.
I checked the entire house once, twice, three times. Still no Maika. I crossed my arms over my chest. An 18 year old boy shouldn't be that hard to find. I prayed that maybe I'd finally rubbed off on him and he had just snuck out and would be back in an hour or so. Yeah, that could be the real reason. I decided to stick to that. I made my way back to my own room, feeling semi-accomplished. After all these years, I'd finally taught Maika Maile how to break rules.
♠ ♠ ♠
I know this one is really short but that's how I needed it to be. This was the first part of the story that I actually had written down. This is where everything else came from. So it's short, but it's important. So yeah. If anyone would like to share some comments, that'd be great.